The Corn Maze
by teej.318
Summary: Richie invites Eddie to a corn maze that's just outside of Derry. Eddie can't decide if they're on a date since it's just the two of them. And naturally, the boys get lost while in the maze and feelings are confessed.


Eddie hurried to the phone that was in the living room, grateful that his mother wasn't home to intercept the call. Though she had given Eddie his space in the years since the Gazebos Incident, as it came to be known, Eddie certainly didn't trust his mother not to try interfering in his life, especially when it came to his friends.

He and the rest of The Losers were as close as ever. They were juniors in high school now and still shared most classes with one another. It was easy for them to have classes together, as they all had about the same grades and refused to sign up for advanced classes unless two other Losers were doing it, too.

"Hello?" Richie said when he reached the phone.

"Hey, Eds, what's up?" came Richie's voice on the other line.

Eddie couldn't help but smile to himself. Every time he and Richie talked on the phone, he felt himself feel happy, which was a rare occurrence in his home due to his mother and her overbearing nature. Still, Eddie couldn't help himself and started his usual banter with Richie.

"Don't call me that," he said in an irritable tone, but he was smiling, picturing Richie's shit-eating grin on the other line.

"Oh, come on, Eddie Spaghetti, you know you love my nicknames for you!"

"You call me that again and I'll hang the fuck up on you in a heartbeat!"

"Eddie, you wound me!" Richie exclaimed and Eddie's smile widened as he pictured Richie miming being stabbed in the chest, which he was sure Richie was doing.

"All right, all right, I won't hang up on you, 'Chee. So, what's up?"

"Listen, you wanna go check out that corn maze tonight? I wanna get out of the house for a little while and since it's October, visiting a corn maze is perfect!"

"Richie, do you know how many germs are at a corn maze? There could be animal shit all over the place and pesticides to keep bugs off the corn, not to mention the number of people who go there sick because it's cold and flu season, and..."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa there, Edward," Richie said in a mock serious voice. "Come on, Eddie, it'll be a fun time. Besides, you had fun last year when we visited that pumpkin patch!"

Eddie sighed.

"Of course you'd bring that up," he said in a resigned tone. "Fine, I'll go check out this corn maze, but you have to promise me that you're not gonna make fun of me for wearing a large jacket. I'm not gonna risk dying from hypothermia out there!"

"Relax, Eds, I won't judge you. Shit, I'm gonna be dressed warmly, too. It's supposed to be pretty chilly tonight. We might have to hold each other to stay warm."

Eddie felt his face heat up at this. He went silent for a moment as he imagined being curled up next to Richie while exploring outside. It sent warm feelings to his heart and he smiled at the thought.

"Eds? You there?"

Eddie snapped himself out of his stupor.

"Yeah, sure, asshole, I'm here. Is anyone else coming?"

"Nah, they all have plans, so it'll just be the two of us, Eds. Pick you up at 5:30?"

"S-sure, Richie, that'll work," Eddie stammered, suddenly feeling nervous.

"You're sounding like Big Bill there, Eds. Well anyway, I'll see you in a few hours!"

Richie hung up the phone. Eddie held it to his ears for a few seconds until he heard the dial tone, which snapped him out of his thoughts and he put the phone back on the receiver.

Richie wanted to go to a corn maze alone with him? What did this mean? Eddie had talked to most of the Losers the day before at school and most of them were planning on staying in this weekend. Does this mean Richie and him are going on a date?

Feeling nervous, Eddie picked the phone up again and called the only person he trusted with something like this.

"Hello?"

"Bev, it's Eddie!"

"Hey, Eddie, what's up? My aunt and I aren't doing anything tonight if you wanted to come over later and watch a movie or something."

Eddie smiled at the thought. He adored Bev's aunt, who had moved from Portland to care for her niece so Bev wouldn't have to leave her friends behind following her father's death.

"Uh, actually I have some plans tonight. With Richie."

"Oh," Bev said, sounding surprised. "What are you guys doing?"

"We're going to check out that corn maze."

"Well that sounds like fun. I wish he invited me to go."

"He didn't?" Eddie asked, frowning. "He said you all had plans."

"I mean, yeah, I was planning on inviting everyone over for a movie night, but you can totally go with Richie to the corn maze, Eddie. You'll have a good time!"

"But what does this mean, Bev?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, he told me that you all said no even though none of you have plans tonight, at least not yet. And he invited me to go alone with him. Does this mean we're going on a date?"

Bev started laughing. Eddie scowled even though he knew she couldn't see him.

"What is so fucking funny?" Eddie demanded.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Eddie," Bev said, sobering up from her laughing fit. "But yeah, I think this could be a date. If he lied to you about inviting the others, that means he anticipated you asking that question, so yeah, I bet this is a date!"

"But there's no way Richie likes me like that!" Eddie whispered, despite his mother not being in the house. Though he thought his mother suspected him being gay, Eddie had only come out to Bev at the start of the school year and she had been nothing but supportive, promising to keep his secret to herself.

"Oh, come on, Eddie, it's so obvious to anyone with eyes that he likes you too. Now you go and have fun with him tonight, but call me and let me know how it goes!"

With that, Bev hung up before Eddie could respond. Eddie huffed and threw the phone onto the receiver again, sighing to himself.

Well, Eddie thought, if he's going on a date, he may as well make himself presentable and he hurried upstairs to take a shower.

* * *

Eddie hurried to the front door when he heard knocking. Luckily, his mother hadn't arrived home from work yet, so she wouldn't be able to stop him from going out with Richie. Eddie flung the door open and saw Richie standing in the doorway, grinning at him.

Eddie's breath hitched as he took in Richie's appearance. Richie had obviously went to the trouble to make himself look good for this...whatever it was they were doing at the corn maze. Richie had washed his hair thoroughly and was dressed nicely, with a black jacket and scarf to match being the only part of Richie's outfit Eddie could see. Richie's jeans also lacked holes, which was a rare occurrence for the Trashmouth. Eddie wondered briefly if Richie had bought the jeans for tonight.

"Hey, Eds! You ready to get going?"

Eddie shook himself out of his thoughts and grinned back at Richie.

"Yeah, I just gotta lock up," he said, opening his fanny pack and pulling out his key. He shut the door behind him and locked it before turning back to Richie, returning the key to his fanny pack.

Richie's smile widened before he turned and walked down the front steps. Eddie followed him. They climbed into Richie's truck and Eddie put his seatbelt on before he said anything.

"It's already pretty chilly," he said, shivering slightly. "You sure we aren't going to freeze to death out there?"

"Relax, Spaghetti man," Richie said, gesturing to the backseat. Eddie spotted some blankets, an extra jacket, snow hat and gloves piled in the back seat. "If you get too cold out there, you can borrow this extra shit and you can snuggle under the blanket when I drive you back home."

"You did all that for me?" Eddie asked, blushing slightly.

"Course I did, Eds," Richie said, shrugging as he started up the truck. "I gotta make sure my Eddie Spaghetti is comfortable at all times."

"Thanks, 'Chee," Eddie said, giving Richie a warm smile.

* * *

Richie turned to Eddie when they reached the outside of the corn maze. It was located just outside of Derry and had taken about 20 minutes to get to from Eddie's house. Thinking ahead, Eddie had grabbed one of the snow hats for himself and put the other in his coat pocket in case Richie got cold later and did the same with the spare pair of gloves that he wasn't using.

"You ready, Spaghetti?" Richie asked, giving Eddie his trademark grin.

"Yeah," Eddie said nervously.

"Hey," Richie said seriously and Eddie felt a weight on his left hand. He looked down and saw that Richie was holding his hand. "You don't have to be nervous, okay, Eds? I'm gonna be with you the whole time, all right?"

Eddie nodded, feeling his face warm up again and hoping that Richie didn't see it.

_Is this a date?_ Eddie asked himself again.

The two of them walked into the corn maze. Richie hurried them through it, not paying attention to where they were going and avoiding any of the other people who were inside. Eddie lost track of their path; he was too wrapped up in his thoughts and trying to avoid blushing as Richie continued holding his hand.

After about 30 minutes of zigzagging, Eddie suggested they return to the entrance, as the sun was starting to set and they didn't want to be outside under the night sky too long. Richie rolled his eyes, but agreed. Richie led Eddie through the maze back the way they came, but he kept changing directions. After the third time of this, Eddie stopped Richie.

"What are you doing? We should be getting back to the front!"

"I'm trying, Eds!" Richie said, sounding nervous. "It's just. Fuck, I can't figure out which way we came."

"Jesus, Richie, did you get us lost?" Eddie snapped. "God, why did you have to do that? Why the fuck didn't you pay attention to where you were going? Now we're going to get pneumonia and die out here. God damn it..."

Eddie stopped when he heard Richie crying. He frowned and squeezed Richie's hand, but Richie wasn't looking at him.

"Richie?" Eddie said in a soft voice.

"I'm sorry, Eddie," Richie said as tears continued to fall down his face. "I didn't mean to get lost. I was so excited that our date was going perfectly and I just lost track of things. I'm sorry!"

Eddie's brain froze. Date? Did Richie say date? He stared at Richie, at a loss for words. Richie seemed to notice.

"Great, now you hate me. I never should have done this. Look, Eds, I'll get us out of here and take you home and leave you alone for a while. I'm sure you're mad at me."

"Richie, stop," Eddie heard himself say. Richie looked up at Eddie, with more tears threatening to spill down his face. Eddie took Richie's face gently into his gloved hand and wiped away the tears.

"I don't hate you, 'Chee," Eddie said. "I promise you. I could never hate you. You're my best friend, Richie. I'm annoyed that you got us lost, but I'm more surprised that you called this a date."

Richie's eyes widened and he suddenly looked more frightened than Eddie had ever seen him. Richie back away slowly as he stammered over his words.

"Shit, Eds. I...I...fuck, I didn't mean..."

Eddie sighed as he took a step closer to Richie and grabbed Richie's scarf, pulling it toward him. Richie was pulled forward too and before Richie could react, Eddie wrapped his arms around Richie and pressed their lips together.

The kiss may not have been perfect, but it felt like heaven to Eddie. He and Richie fit together perfectly. Once Richie got over the shock of the kiss, he deepened it, grabbing onto Eddie's cheeks and kissing Eddie back fiercely. They only broke apart when they needed air.

"I'm glad to see you shut the fuck up for once," Eddie said once he had regained his breath.

Richie chuckled and tears started to fall down his face again.

"Hey, don't cry, 'Chee," Eddie said softly as he pressed their foreheads together.

"They're happy tears, Eds," Richie replied. "I can't believe you just kissed me. Did you mean it?"

"Of course I did, Richie. I love you."

Richie sighed happily and pulled Eddie in for a hug.

"Thank fucking god," Richie said as he held onto Eddie tightly. Eddie hugged Richie back and could feel his heart racing. He had never felt happier in his life and he knew that he would remember this moment forever.

The hug was interrupted when a voice called out to them.

"There you two are!" said the young woman who had greeted them at the entrance. "I was worried that you had gotten lost! Now, follow me and I'll get you out of here."

The woman turned and started to walk away from them. Richie and Eddie looked at each other and giggled. Richie reached down and grabbed Eddie's hand again and curled their fingers together. Eddie smiled at Richie before they hurried after the woman. Within minutes, they were back outside the entrance to the corn maze and they thanked the woman before they hurried back to Richie's truck.

As Richie drove away from the corn maze, Eddie reached over and grabbed Richie's hand again, though he had taken off the gloves so he could feel Richie's skin on his.

"Can we just go back to your place? I wanna stay the night."

"Won't your Mom get mad, Eds?"

"I'll just have your Mom tell her that I fell asleep while watching a movie or something. I don't wanna be away from you tonight."

Richie smiled and nodded. Eddie lifted Richie's hand and gave it a kiss.

* * *

Hours later, Richie and Eddie were alone in Richie's room, getting ready to go to sleep. Mrs. Tozier had convinced Eddie's mom to let him stay the night, much to Eddie's relief. He knew he would probably hear a lecture when he returned home the next morning, but he knew it was worth it as long as he got to spend tonight with Richie.

Richie climbed into his bed first, shuffling the pillows around to give Eddie room to lay down with him. Eddie quickly joined Richie in the bed and curled up next to him as Richie threw the blanket over them. Richie wrapped his arms around Eddie and pulled him close so they were almost face-to-face.

"Thanks for coming on the date with me, Eds," Richie whispered.

"Well you're not forgiven for lying to me about the others having plans," Eddie said in a mock angry voice.

Richie's eyes widened.

"Who squealed?" he demanded.

Eddie giggled.

"I'll never tell."

"I bet it was Bev," Richie said. "She was the one who told me I should tell you the others had plans."

Eddie rolled his eyes, not too surprised that Bev had been the one to suggest that to Richie. He nuzzled closer to Richie and kissed Richie again. They had been kissing all night long whenever Richie's parents weren't paying attention and each time felt just as exciting as the first.

"I love you, Richie," Eddie whispered when he broke the kiss and laid his head on Richie's chest.

"I love you, too, Eddie," Richie replied, giving Eddie a kiss on the forehead and closing his eyes.


End file.
